Our Story

FOUNDED IN PARTNERSHIP; DEDICATED TO PARTNERSHIP

Our Vision

At Heimark Distributing Company our Vision is “Creating strong partnerships with our Customers, our Suppliers, and our Employees for shared success.” Partnership has been a part of Heimark since its foundation by Rudy Heimark and Jim Fleming back in 1957.

The Beginning

Rudy Heimark started Heimark Distributing – in 1937 in Indio, CA. He learned the ropes of the beer business selling a variety of beers to retail customers in the Coachella Valley, and importantly, to General Patton’s troops training for desert warfare at Chiriaco Summit. Among other great American beers, Heimark distributed for the Rheingold Brewery out of New York, and that is how he met his future business partner, Jim Fleming. In 1957 Jim and Rudy decided to open a distributorship in East Los Angeles for a beer from St. Louis, MO – not the one you’re thinking! They became Falstaff distributors and founded Triangle Distributing Company. Rudy’s eldest son, Don Heimark returned from his service in the US Air Force in 1958, and became the third member of this new “Triangle” Partnership. That same year, another little beer from St. Louis became a part of this partnership – Budweiser.

Heimark Today

Today, when we think of the “Heimark Partnership,” we think of our Customers, our Suppliers, and our Employees. We partner with the best brewers and drinks manufacturers in the industry. We open our doors to them and expect them to walk through to work with us to build their brands at retail. They give us world-class brands to sell and world-class support, and we in turn strive day-in, day-out to build market share for them. Of course, it takes World-Class employees to achieve this. We rigorously screen new applicants to make sure they share a winning attitude and our core shared values:

Treat others with uncompromising truth

Lavish trust on your associates

Mentor unselfishly

Be receptive to new ideas, regardless of their origin

Take personal risks for the organization’s sake

Give credit where it’s due

Do not touch dishonest dollars

Put the interest of others before your own

Meaningful Partnerships

Once we’ve got the right people, we work very hard to keep them engaged. Our turnover is lower than any of our peers or competitors in the DSD tier as a result. At the end of 2015, our team consisted of 80 dedicated employees and continues to grow. But neither supplier success nor employee success would be possible without our Retail Customer Partners. As of the end of 2015, Heimark served over 975 retail customers in the geography we service. Our customers range from the biggest of the big club stores to the tiniest delis and taverns. Our customers’ needs vary from driving traffic to delighting consumers with new and unusual products. It is our goal to develop meaningful partnerships in which our Heimark team members understand their customer’s goals and are focused on helping the customer achieve those goals.